From rotting mushroom to drug?
Bacterial virulence factor of mushroom soft rot identified. The substance called jagaricin could represent a starting point for the development of new antifungal drugs.
Nov 29th, 2012
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Rules devised for building artificial, ideal protein molecules from scratch
By following a set of principles, scientists can produce protein molecules that previously did not exist in nature.
Nov 29th, 2012
Read moreTraceability of modified foods in the EU and beyond
A huge EU consortium joined forces to develop tools for managing the co-existence of genetically modified (GM) foods and conventional ones in the EU market. The traceability provided should be critical to consumer confidence.
Nov 29th, 2012
Read moreInternational team generates major breakthrough in deciphering bread wheat's genetic code
Scientists from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany recently completed the first analysis of the bread wheat genome, one of the "big three" global crops upon which mankind depends for nutrition.
Nov 29th, 2012
Read moreEuropean Food Safety Authority rejects report linking GM corn to cancer
Serious defects in the design and methodology of a paper by S�ralini et al. mean it does not meet acceptable scientific standards and there is no need to re-examine previous safety evaluations of genetically modified maize NK603. These are the conclusions of separate and independent assessments carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and six EU Member States.
Nov 28th, 2012
Read moreDecoded genome paves way for better watermelons
Sweeter and more disease-resistant watermelons just may be on their way, thanks to an international consortium of more than 60 scientists that has just published the genome sequence of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus).
Nov 27th, 2012
Read moreResearchers discover what keeps a cell's energy source going
Scientists discovered last month an essential mechanism that regulates the flow of calcium into mitochondria. They found that the mitochondrial protein MICU1 is required to establish the proper level of calcium uptake under normal conditions.
Nov 27th, 2012
Read moreNew technology to revolutionise fresh fruit industry
Researchers at the University of Queensland have developed a technology that will dramatically improve the safety, efficiency and effort involved in controlled ripening of fruit.
Nov 27th, 2012
Read moreBreakthrough could help optimize capture of sugars for biofuels
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) combined different microscopic imaging methods to gain a greater understanding of the relationships between biomass cell wall structure and enzyme digestibility, a breakthrough that could lead to optimizing sugar yields and lowering the costs of making biofuels.
Nov 27th, 2012
Read moreEngineering plants for biofuels
With increasing demands for sustainable energy, being able to cost-efficiently produce biofuels from plant biomass is more important than ever. However, lignin and hemicelluloses present in certain plants mean that they cannot be easily converted into biofuels. A recent study appears to have solved this problem, using gene manipulation techniques to engineer plants that can be more easily broken down into biofuels.
Nov 26th, 2012
Read moreUsing computational biology for the annotation of proteins
Scientists in Spain employed computational techniques to improve the characterization of proteins. The system they developed has allowed them to predict, for example, the relationship between two human proteins and telomeres, which led to their possible implication in cellular aging and the development of cancer; this awaits experimental verification.
Nov 26th, 2012
Read moreNew synthetic biomaterials promote neuroregeneration after a brain injury
New research has shown that these types of implants, made of a biocompatible synthetic material, are colonized within two months by neural progenitor cells and irrigated by new blood vessels.
Nov 26th, 2012
Read moreAnalysing spider venom
A European project investigated the effect of brown spider venom on the structure and biophysical properties of cellular membranes. By using state-of-the-art fluorescent techniques, scientists succeeded in directly visualising venom-induced changes in cells.
Nov 25th, 2012
Read moreScientists describe elusive replication machinery of flu viruses
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a major advance in understanding how flu viruses replicate within infected cells. The researchers used cutting-edge molecular biology and electron-microscopy techniques to "see" one of influenza's essential protein complexes in unprecedented detail.
Nov 25th, 2012
Read moreRapeseed oil gets biotech boost
In an experiment performed on oilseed rape, scientists use RNAi suppression as a tool to switch off the enzyme responsible for oil breakdown, specifically for the duration of seed development. This results in the accumulation of around 8% more oil in the seed.
Nov 25th, 2012
Read moreAn international competition reaffirms the potential of bioinformatics in the diagnosis of disease
A team led by IRB Barcelona's David Rossell and Patrick Aloy and by Anaxomics Biotech ranked among the best in the world for diagnosing and classifying patients in a blind test for four diseases.
Nov 23rd, 2012
Read moreBiomedical engineering: technology that drives medical advances
Systems to improve patient rehabilitation, methods that help detect diseases, and smart biomaterials for optimising treatments - scientific advances in the field of biomedical engineering are unstoppable. A number of leading UPC teams are carrying out research aimed at harnessing technology to improve people's health.
Nov 22nd, 2012
Read moreBlind patient reads words stimulated directly onto the retina
For the very first time researchers have streamed braille patterns directly into a blind patient's retina, allowing him to read four-letter words accurately and quickly with an ocular neuroprosthetic device.
Nov 22nd, 2012
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